1. Field of Invention:
This invention relates generally to a basketball goal, and more particularly to a goal whose hoop from which a net is suspended is so mounted on a backboard, that when the hoop is subjected to a downward force by a player, the hoop is then momentarily deflected to absorb the force and thereby avoid damage to the goal and injury to the player.
2. Status of Prior Art:
The game of basketball, which is played throughout the world both indoors and out by professionals and amateurs, makes use of a basketball and two goals, one for each end of a playing court. The goal includes a metal ring or hoop from which a mesh net is suspended, the net acting to momentarily check the basketball as it passes therethrough. The hoop is mounted on an elevated backboard, often formed of temper-plate glass.
The normal practice is to rigidly mount the hoop so that it is horizontal and extends forwardly from the vertical backboard. This mounting must be sufficiently rigid so that the hoop is capable of withstanding the forces applied thereto by a player during a game. These forces are created by the ball bouncing on the hoop or by players coming in contact with the hoop.
In recent years, as players have become taller, the goal has been subjected to increasing abuse as a result of contact with players, giving rise not only to damage to the hoop but also, in some instances, to injury to the player.
A common tactic in playing basketball is the so-called "slam dunk shot," in which the player jumps upwardly with the ball held in his outstretched arms and hands, the ball then being driven downwardly through the hoop. In carrying out this dunk shot, the player makes forceful contact with the hoop by slapping, hitting or pulling the hoop with his hands, wrists or arms.
When the hoop is rigidly mounted, the forces exerted on the hoop by various executions of a slam dunk shot may cause deformation of the hoop. A more serious problem is that the glass backboard on which the hoop is mounted will sometimes shatter under the forces arising from this shot.
One prior art solution to the problem is to provide, as disclosed in the Mahoney et al. Pat. No. 4,676,503, a breakaway mounting assembly in which the hoop, when subjected by the player to an excessive force, then simply collapses or breaks away from its normal position on the backboard. The drawback to this arrangement is that it interrupts the game which cannot be resumed until the goal is reassembled.
The approach to this problem that is of greater prior art interest with respect to the present invention is that disclosed in the Tyner Pat. No., 4,194,734, in which the hoop of the goal is joined to a spring-biased bracket, so that when a player executes a slam dunk shot and comes in contact with the hoop, the hoop then swings down from its normal horizontal position to absorb the resultant shock.
The Tyner arrangement is relatively elaborate and costly. It requires that the hoop be joined to a bracket hinged to the front side of a backboard, a pair of bolts passing through bores in the backboard being coupled at one end to the front brackets and at the other end to a plate behind the backboard which engages the piston rod of a shock absorber mounted on a rear bracket. Each bolt is surrounded by a helical spring which is compressed when the hoop is deflected and the front bracket then swings down, the compressed spring thereafter recovering its uncompressed state, and in doing so, acting to compress the shock absorber and to return the hoop to its normal horizontal position.
The resiliently-biased mounting for a basketball
disclosed in the De Faveri Pat. No., 4,575,079, is also mechanically complex, for it involves three brackets nested relative to each other, a first spring urging the second bracket toward its normally nested position relative to the first bracket, and a second spring independent of the first, urging the third bracket toward its normal position relative to the second bracket.
Also of prior art interest is the basketball rim assembly disclosed in the Simonseth Pat. No., 4,433,839, which discloses a release mechanism including springs which permit deflection of the rim in response to a downward force, as well as the Ehrat Pat. No., 4,365,802, which discloses a swingable mount for a basketball goal. Engle et al. Pat. No., 4,438,923, shows a basketball goal having a mounting frame that includes a curved leaf spring to provide a resilient coupling.
In all of the above prior art patents, the mounting for the hoop which permits deflection of the hoop to absorb a downward force applied thereto is a relatively complicated mechanism that is expensive to manufacture and requires adjustment or maintenance for proper operation.